Monday 10 December 2012

::Sewing:: Sturdy Striped Tote


The Mr's nephew is turning three last weekend and I gave him something that I've been working on for longer than he has been alive. If you follow me on Instagram (I'm @simplefibrelife) you'd have seen glimpses of it.




I gave him a rainbow granny square throw. I was thinking about how I was going to wrap his present. Then I remembered the Reversible Tote Course on Craftsy. I thought it would be a neat idea to give him his gift in another gift.

So on Friday evening I made a tote following the instructions from the free
Bag-Making Basics: Reversible Tote and Zipper Pouch Craftsy course.



Well, I did make a few changes. Seeing as I was just using what I had on hand I had to cut the the external pieces to different lengths, but I made sure (at least I thought I had) to match the 16 x 17.5 inches of the lining piece. As I was only working with fat quarters I cut the external pieces as 16 x 9.5 inches and 16 x 8.5 inches; I forgot the 1/2 inch seam when sewing the two pieces together. Making the final piece 16 inches. DOH! Oh well it wasn't too much of a bummer.

I also fused some iron-on interfacing to the exterior of the tote after I had sewn the seam for each of the exterior panels, but before I joined them. When I joined them I sewed up both sides, attached the straps, then I sewed the bottom. Speaking of the straps, I'm a perfectionist so I used my adjustable edger foot to do the top-stitching along the long edges of the handles.

When I sewed the lining together I left a whole at the bottom to turn the bag out the right way; that way I wouldn't need to leave a gap when I sewed the lining to the exterior. When I boxed the corners of the lining and exterior I made the base of the bag 5 inches wide as I really wanted a sturdy bottom on the bag. I also omitted the pocket.

I made something from a Craftsy course! Yay! It makes me feel a little better after my last post. Are you crafting gifts this season? If so, what are you making? Leave me a comment :)

Until next time, I hope you're improvising on your projects ;)
Vanessa xoxo

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